Let's Change the Way We Look at Shared Problems by Starting Some Conversations

“Why High Bicycling Rates are Safer for All Road Users,” by Faffs Riederer. (Source: YouTube.)

Some of the most engaging takes on the Strong Towns approach to creating resilient communities have been provided in recent years by people who don’t even work here. Our friends have taken some of our best ideas and run far—using amazing creativity to transform ideas into conversations in wonderful ways we couldn’t imagine. 

Talking points that Strong Towns president Charles Marohn refined in thousands of hours of podcasts, blog posts, and presentations are making their way into ever-widening circles. 

We are having trouble, for example, keeping track of the now relatively widespread use of the word “stroad,” coined by Chuck more than 10 years ago to describe a street–road hybrid. The Strong Towns critique of the Suburban Experiment and our work calling out the Growth Ponzi Scheme are ideas which have been debated, tested, and re-tested on this site…and in presentations, podcasts, and essays by many others. We’re very grateful for these collaborations.  

We love the video content being produced by Strong Towns friends, and in coming weeks, you’ll see more video content on our website. Some of it will be produced by third parties like CityNerd or Not Just Bikes, and some of it will be produced in-house. Watch out for a casting call coming soon for members of our movement to submit short, 30-second videos showing a problem in their neighborhood which the Strong Towns approach can help solve. 

That series of short video content pieces will be presented on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. The goal is to engage more often in conversations and stand in front of you and lecture less. I think the framework of ideas has mostly been built and now we are seeking more collaborators to turn those thoughts into actions. 

Today, I’d like to share an example of an “explainer” piece produced by an artist, urban planner, and kindergarten teacher in Tucson, Arizona, named Faffs Riederer. It was researched by Wes Marshall from the University of Colorado Denver and Nick Ferenchak from the University of New Mexico, then released a couple years ago. 

In this piece, the connection between improved bicycle infrastructure and safer roads for everybody (including those using transit, driving cars, and walking) is creatively explained with a combination of drawings and voiceover in a piece just over three minutes long. It summarizes months of work in a way that would take us many pages here to match. 

We’ll be reaching out to content creators such as Faffs, and also to you. our audience, to help bring our movement to more people in more places in new creative ways—to start conversations.

If we are successful, a lot of the best ideas of the Strong Towns movement will find their way into your conversations and those engagements will become real-world solutions forwarded in our faith communities, our town councils, and our planning and zoning boards - and in talks over the fence or at the park bench with our neighbors.

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